Harriet stood at the window with a gun in one hand, and an iron skillet in the other. One was for the man she had just shot outside, the other was for his partner. The man who was breaking through the door.

He waited a second before entering the room, expecting to wrestle his opponent to the ground, or shoot it out. What he didn’t expect was a cracked temple as the woman used her other weapon. By the end of the night, two assailants lay huddled in the living room floor of Carl Lafayette’s home.

One was bleeding from his leg, and the other from his face. Soon, Carl and Pin arrived to cart them off to jail. Normally Carl would have been home, but he and Pin were keeping a close eye on their prisoner, the Frenchman. It had taken fifteen men to transport the giant to jail, and they weren’t about to take any chances.

“Harriet, where did you learn to shoot like that? Why did you have a gun on you anyway?” The lady smiled as innocently as she could. “A friend taught me, and gave me the gun. You see, where I come from can be a very dangerous place. You have to be prepared for anything.”

That hadn’t completely satisfied them, but they were content to let it go for now. She had saved Carl’s family from a very bold attempt by the Pick Ace men. Harriet excused herself to her room.

Once there, she wrote a letter to Edward Mallory. She wasn’t happy with the night’s events at all. It wasn’t the outcome that bothered her, but that her hand had been tipped so early. This wasn’t a trap, as she explained in the correspondence, it was a fact finding mission.

Someone very intelligent had figured out that she was more than she said. Since she had only been there a matter of hours, they had to have only guessed. This meant that their opponent was smarter than they thought.

Edward wasn’t as much in the shadows as he had hoped. This letter had to reach him soon. “Does this mean your other interests are also exposed? If so, where do we go from here?”

Retooling yourself and old ideas isn’t a new concept, Walt Disney was brilliant at it. You’re familiar with familiar fairy tales in his movies, but do you remember the Mickey Mouse Club? If so, what version? There have been five of them.

The first was a theater based club from 1930-1935, it had over one million members. The second came about to raise money to help build Disneyland in 1955. The third and fourth incarnations were in the seventies and the nineties.

The 1989-1995 edition had future Hollywood personalities that are household names today. They included Justin Timberlake, Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. The latest was a 2015 South Korean television show.

The point is, at different intervals, Disney took an idea and reused it. Trends and children changed, old things that once worked grew out of date. Rather than holding onto the past, they evaluated and updated what would work. Disney discarded what was no longer applicable, and used what still was.

I’m currently in such a state myself, just recently going through a career transition. While I can’t control every facet of this experience, there are a few things I can do. I would like to share them with you, in hopes of helping you through a similar transition.

First, and foremost, I seek counsel. As a Christian, I believe in prayer, I ask for God’s help as I walk this road. Also, I talk to my Pastor. His perspective not only gives me direction, but inspiration. In addition, I’ve spoken to experts in my industry, and others who’ve faced this same thing.

Second, I do not allow my emotions to be my engine. Some days you will feel emotionally on fire, other days you’ll feel as if all your energy was drained out. We should not deny our emotions, but we can’t allow them to be our director either.

Talk to someone you can trust about what you’re feeling. Address your fears, concerns, and questions. We are human, and these things are natural. At the same time, they shouldn’t control our decisions, we should.

Thirdly, I’m reinventing myself, in a career sense. I’m exploring my options, discarding what doesn’t work, and attempting to implement what will. In my career I’ve went from IT work, to customer service and human resources. In addition to that, I’m a writer and artist.

I don’t know what the next phase of my work path looks like yet, but I know this. My best job is still ahead of me, and I’m pursuing it. Along the way, I’m brushing off old ideas that still have some life in them, and introducing myself to new audiences.

You can too, if you’re willing to do something. It takes a willingness to try something new. Being brave enough to streamline what still works, while eliminating what no longer does. Knowing that your ideas are tools that are meant to work for you, but do not define you.

If a tool is damaged, a craftsman repairs what he can, and replaces what is no longer viable. That does not mean that you are no longer valuable, only that you are facing a new challenge. Where you are in life is not your destination, it’s only your current location.

Much like the Mickey Mouse Club, our lives can touch generations, span countries, and have many formats. If, like me, your in transition, then you’re on a grand adventure. They can be challenging, even scary at times, but also incredibly exciting.

We need some new things in our lives to make them interesting. Plus, like treasures in jewelry box, we can accent the new, with classic pieces that retain their value. Our circumstances effect us, but they don’t determine our relevance.

No matter where you are, or how old you are, you have something to offer. It may mean learning a new skill, or reconfiguring an old one. M I C Key Mouse gave way to malls and music videos, but more than one generation loved it. You may trade an old mouse eared hat for a shiny new look, and that’s okay. Start preparing today, to introduce yourself to the next phase of your journey.

To call Harriet Douglass a spy wasn’t exactly accurate. She had been a regular person like Edward, until an adventure in Washington DC happened. Harriet Douglass had saved the life of the President’s favorite Secret Service agent.

Harriet was a young African American woman on the cleaning staff at the White House. Normally she wouldn’t have been in the kitchen, but a coincidence placed her there one day. She noticed a glint of light through the window.

Some crazy person was about to fire a gun from across the street. Harriet screamed in time to alert everyone to move. Seconds later there was a hole in the wall where the Secret Service man had been standing.

The incident was kept out of the papers. Harriet was secretly commended, and given a small reward. She enjoyed, as she put it, “Being active in the noble defense of my country.” Edward’s Uncle had hired her away from the President with the promise of more adventure.

Edward had convinced her of the importance of what he was doing. That is how Carl Lafayette hired his new house keeper. His friend the librarian had recommended her, without disclosing his plans.

Harriet was to be Edward’s eyes and ears for his friend’s protection. He knew that Carl and Pin wouldn’t protect themselves from danger, so he sent Harriet to help him accomplish it. With one more added piece of training, now Harriet could shoot from a building away and hit her target.

Actually Harriet had turned into a natural marks woman. She could hit her mark from two buildings away. A skill that she would use the night she arrived at Carl’s home.

Find out how Harriet risks her own life to save others in next week’s Alaskan Silver!

Exodus 38:5
And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves.

The word places, in Hebrew, also translates house. God made a house for the staffs that bear the altar. The staves represent the Ministry. No other item is more tied to it, than the staff which rested in Moses’ hand, and on the backs of the Priests. Everything God does is strategic, from the rings themselves to where they were located, had a purpose.

The rings were a place of rest, a type and shadow of the place of rest that God created for the Ministry. These four rings not only enabled the staves to bear the altar, they were a home for them. God knew the necessity of rest for His leaders, and wants His people to understand as well.

Jesus took His disciples aside to rest, and the people followed. The Lord put His own comfort on hold, to minister to others, as do most leaders, but He still needed rest. Sadly, too many leaders gladly spend themselves to exhaustion serving us.

You and I can help prevent this. We are not all called to be staves, but we can be rings. The rings were at the four corners of the altar. God wants those who labor at the altar to receive their own rest there. We can be rings that watch out for those who watch out for us.

A ring itself is a symbol of faithfulness, of a covenant. It bears, decorates, and is a symbol of love. Love is the heartbeat of God. I believe we are closest to God’s heart when caring for His Ministers. There are multiple ways to be a place of rest for the Pastor in your life, but I want to highlight three.

First, pray for them everyday. Prayer isn’t just us asking, and God giving. It was designed as a joint effort between God and His child. He wants to work with us in interceding, using us to minister to the needs of others in prayer. We can strengthen our leaders by taking their names to the throne room, just as they do daily for us.

Second, be a friend to the Man Of God, in word and action. Loyalty is expected of our leaders, and they have the right to expect it of us. Stand with your Pastor, support and fight with Him. Resist those who are against them.

Gossip doesn’t just involve the speaker’s lips, it equally comprises the listener’s ears. If someone talks about your friend, you don’t listen, you leave the person doing the talking. The same should be true when someone speaks against the Man Of God.

Third, be a blessing to your leader. They don’t serve to be blessed, they live to be a blessing. Expecting nothing, they give, yet God has designed a blessing for them. His plan has always been for God’s people to supply the needs of His Leader.

Say thank you in your own way, but definitely say it. A text, a gift card, or volunteering to lighten their load. It shows them that we care for them, as much as they care for us. We shouldn’t wait for October to appreciate those who work for us every day.

Be a ring to the leader in your life. Bear their needs, decorate their lives with love and support. Be a symbol that they can point out to their children, “Some will at times hurt you, but people like ____________, make all the difference.”

You and I can be the symbol passed down to the next generation of leaders. Heirlooms of hope that empowers the Joshua’s who follow. I’ve seen Christians influence Pastor’s children to either follow or flee Ministry. We can be a house of safety for the burden bearers in our lives, by lightening their load.

The current occupant of the cabin was in chains. One of its previous visitors was the captor. You may remember another guest, Edward Mallory, the curator of the museum.

Since his faked abduction, he had been secretly transported to his Uncle’s home. From there, he had went to work, establishing a network of Alaskan allies. These people were committed to ridding Alaska of corruption, and Edward was leading the charge from his desk.

It was Edward who had arranged for the undercover agent St Louis. He had crafted the plan to trick the Pick Axe group into hiring an assassin, not knowing he was really a Federal agent. Much like Pin and Carl, Edward knew, to beat these men, it would take more than strength.

To defeat these criminals, you would have to outsmart them. Lucas Shelton wasn’t his last chess move either. It was his second, Harriet Douglass was his third.

I’m sorry for shouting, but I’m very excited about this. The Polar Bears Typewriter: Friends In Hollywood is now available @ www.amazon.com/author/pruittwrites. This story, along with the new Bible study, Famous, are two of my favorite things I’ve ever written.

The Polar Bears Typewriter is a tale about friendship, which happens to be set in Hollywood. Why a title like The Polar Bears Typewriter? It has to do with a writer’s imagination, and a story for his children.

Below is an excerpt from the book. I hope you enjoy it, and you head to Amazon to check out it and the rest of my eBooks. Either way, thank you for being the most important part of PruittWrites!

Mat’s agent, Louis Howard, was the closet thing to vintage Hollywood you could get in this day and age. He cultivated that look very carefully. His suits were tailored in retro styling, and he carried himself to evoke a certain look. His slicked back white hair and hazel eyes, hid behind massive sunglasses helped. It was great marketing.

“Matt, what’s the story on the three scripts?” Matt frowned. “One of them is awful, and two of them I’ve already done ten years ago.” “What about the books?” “Eh, not great, not horrible, they’re just not memorable.”

Louis took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and flashed his fifteen thousand dollar perfect teeth. “Those two Oscars are getting lonesome Matt. You haven’t done a picture in what, eight months? It’s time to start something.”
“

I know, I just would like to start something … interesting.” “Sensational I can give you, explosions, no problem, but interesting, that’s hard.” “I just wish I could find another Tripoli’s Titan.” It had been the book about an Italian watchmaker, turned into a movie, that had won Matt his first Oscar.

Matt, it took fifteen years to turn that into a movie, and it had taken the author five years just to get it published. If you want interesting, you may have to write it yourself!” Matt hadn’t realized the look he had given Louis, but Louis did. “What’s that?” “What?” “The look, Matty Higgins wants to be an author!”